Sam Shepard

My first job was with the Burns Detective Agency. They sent me over to the East River to guard coal barges during these god-awful hours like three to six in the morning. It wasn't a very difficult job -- all I had to do was make a round every fifteen minutes -- but it turned out to be a great environment for writing. I was completely alone in a little outhouse with an electric heater and a little desk.
-Sam Shepard

I've heard writers talk about "discovering a voice," but for me that wasn't a problem. There were so many voices that I didn’t know where to start.
-Sam Shepard

I think without writing I would feel completely useless.
-Sam Shepard

Farm country -- you know, hay, horses, cattle. It's the ideal situation for me. I like the physical endeavors that go with the farm -- cutting hay, cleaning out stalls, or building a barn. You go do that and then come back to the writing.
-Sam Shepard

The funny thing about having all this so-called success is that behind it is a certain horrible emptiness.
-Sam Shepard

The great thing for me, now, is that writing has become more and more interesting. Not just as a craft but as a way into things that are not described. It's a thing of discovering. That's when writing is really working. You're on the trail of something and you don't quite know what it is.
-Sam Shepard

You're never going to see the truth. It's what you're shooting for always and you always miss it. Every once in a while, you catch an edge of it. That's what's you hope for, I think, as an artist.
-Sam Shepard